Top 10 films to watch on Valentine’s Day

If you want guaranteed romance, pop a DVD on instead of heading to a crowded restaurant. Here are our top 10 picks for the best Valentine’s Day films.

Pride & Prejudice – Matthew MacFadyen steps into Darcy’s britches, while Keira Knightley plays the feisty gentleman’s daughter who judges too quickly; not as good as the 1995 mini-series (what is?), but still perfect with a bottle of red.

Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig’s smash-hit comedy will make you think twice about planning a wedding as Wiig’s maid of honour battles through a serious of mishaps that befall her and her offbeat gang of bridesmaids before the big day. Happily, she finds love herself, in the shape of cosy Chris O’Dowd.

Casablanca – You must remember this… classic wartime tearjerker with doomed lovers Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. This leaves no emotional button unpressed and it’s guaranteed to appear on all the Greatest Films lists.

Body Heat – Kathleen Turner and William Hurt turn up the heat in this 1981 neo noir, as two lovers plotting to murder Turner’s husband. For those who like to spice things up, but are too shy to buy actual porn…

Psycho – Love is scary. But scary movies are also excellent date movies – you can cling together during the stabbings. Psycho is a Hitchcock classic, famous with everyone because of a shower scene and screeching incidental music. Don’t think too much about the weird Freudian subtext.

Annie Hall – Funny/sad dissection of love and relationships from 1977. Diane Keaton is at her most gorgeous here and Woody Allen was still funny. You and your date should be better matched than these two neurotic New Yorkers.

Romeo & Juliet – Baz Lurhmann’s intoxicating, breakneck adaptation from 1996 made stars out of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes when they fell in love on either side of a fish tank; it’s re-released in cinemas this week, alongside Moulin Rouge.

Four Weddings – Stop all the clocks for this one. Hugh Grant was at his most haltingly floppy and English in this 1994 Richard Curtis comedy, which also made a star of the then-unknown Grant. The film was also responsible for putting Wet Wet Wet at the top of the charts for 15 weeks.

Chocolat – Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp and lots of chocolate – what more can you want?